Sir - The article on the conversion of UK military pilots to fly civil aircraft, "A different guard" (Flight International, 7-13 February, P34), indicates that a captain of a Royal Air Force transport could not merely be given the appropriate civil licences by the very nature of his existing vocation.
During his career, such a pilot could well have flown members of the Royal family and cabinet ministers, including the prime minister (who wants to cut red tape), to various corners of the world, using the same airways and airports as his civil counterparts.
To make a military-transport pilot go around again, taking examinations on something that he or she performs for a living, brings to mind adjectives that are synonymous with crass. I think that there is something rotten in the state of aviation.
DEREK COLBORNE
Aldwick, West Sussex, UK
Civil career means repeating work
Source: Flight International